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Ravens Defender Felt 'Disrespected' Over Steelers Kickoff Strategy in Wild-Card Game

Baltimore soared to a resounding win.

Patrick Andres

Kyle Van Noy during the Ravens' 30–23 win over the Commanders on Oct. 13, 2024.
Kyle Van Noy during the Ravens' 30–23 win over the Commanders on Oct. 13, 2024. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
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On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Steelers—in an unusual but anodyne move—elected to receive the kickoff when they won the coin toss in their AFC wild-card game against the Baltimore Ravens.

To hear veteran linebacker Kyle Van Noy tell it, that's where the Ravens' patience with the Steelers ran out.

"The first thing I thought when it happened was desperate," Van Noy said on Tuesday's edition of the McCoy & Van Noy podcast. "I was standing on the sideline like, 'Oh man. This is disrespectful, taking the ball first.' We were all kinda pissed off about that."

It showed, as Baltimore jumped out to a 21–0 halftime lead and won a 28–14 decision that wasn't that close.

Van Noy, who produced a tackle in the victory, implicitly framed the coin toss as a root of the Ravens' dominance Saturday.

"Their defense getting almost 300 yards rushing on them—I'd be pretty embarrassed if that happened to me," Van Noy said.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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